Official questions report that arsenic levels are 715 times standard

A file photo shows a heavily polluted section of Xiangjiang river in Yongzhou, Central China's Hunan province. Photo was taken on April 11, 2014. [Photo/Xinhua]

An official responded to an NGO's allegation that arsenic content of the Xiangjiang River in Central China's Hunan province exceeded national standards 715 times by criticizing the NGO's sample-collecting methods on Tuesday.

The official from Hunan's provincial environmental protection bureau said that the data was incorrect and irresponsible, as the water sampling point should be 0.5 meters below the surface, while the report's sample was collected from the sediment of the river.

The controversial report was released by a local environmental protection NGO, Changsha Shuguang Environmental Charity Development Center.

The organization claimed they have spent more than 500 days investigating the heavy metals content of contaminated mining areas and capital farmlands which cover 10 prefectures in Hunan province, collecting 164 samples including soil and rice, before releasing the report on Nov 15.

The report shows that heavy metals content far exceeds the national standard in heavily contaminated areas along the Xiangjiang River, a main tributary of the Yangtze River, in central China's Hunan section.

The research group found arsenic content exceeds the national standard 715.73 times in the sediment of the Ganxi River, a source of the Xiangjiang River, in the Sanshiliuwan mining area of Chenzhou and cadmium content exceeds 206.67 times in a local paddy field, while the maximum value of lead reached 1527.8mg/kg, exceeding the standard 5.093 times, in the Taolin lead-zinc deposit of Linxiang.

On April 17, China's Ministry of Environmental Protection and Ministry of Land and Resources jointly issued the results of an investigation into the extent of soil pollution in the nation. The results show 16.1 percent of soil sampling points exceed the national standard. The condition of arable land looks bleak and pollution in former mining areas is severe.

Soil in some regions is heavily polluted, especially in southwestern and south-central regions where heavy metals content far exceeds the standard, with the main pollutants being cadmium, mercury, arsenic, lead and others.